New Episodes of the ICMA Oral History Project

ICMA Oral History Project

We are delighted to announce the latest drop of a cluster of podcasts in the ICMA Oral History Project, available at: https://www.medievalart.org/oral-history-project

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig XV 1, fol. 7v. Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. Ludwig XV 1, fol. 7v. Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program

The new episodes are:


Elizabeth “Libby” Parkerinterviewed by Britt Boler Hunter
Stephen K. Scherinterviewed by Rachel M. Carlisle
Madeline H. Cavinessinterviewed by Alexa Sue Amore
Mary B. Shepardinterviewed by Abby Armstrong Check
Lawrence “Larry” Neesinterviewed by Sarah Slingluff
Paula Gersoninterviewed by Sarah Mathiesen


About the ICMA Oral History Project:
With the goal of preserving the unique stories and experiences of our longest-serving members and supporters, the ICMA Student Committee has launched the Oral History Project. Students interview members who have made significant contributions to the study of medieval art and the ICMA. In the interviews, these members reflect on their initiation into the field, their lifelong experiences as researchers, professionals, and peers, as well as their involvement in the organization. The recordings available here have been edited for clarity and length. Full recordings and transcripts are archived with the ICMA.

Interviews began in late 2020, conducted online due to restrictions on travel and face-to-face interaction. They continue to be recorded on a regular basis.

Interested in being an interviewer? Clickhere to sign up.

Mining the Collection: “Nestorian Crosses”: Christians and their Art in China, ca. 1250-1400; Friday 24 September 2021, 10am ET. Register today!

Mining the Collection
Friday, September 24, 10:00AM ET

“Nestorian Crosses”: Christians and their Art in China, ca. 1250-1400 with Florian Knothe, Director, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong

Nestorian Crosses 2.jpeg

The 7th-century arrival of Nestorian Christianity, the Syriac form of Christianity also known as Church of the East, is recorded on the famous Nestorian stele erected in Xian in 781CE. Despite subsequent repressions, the religion continued to be practiced and, by the 13th century, had been firmly re-established in northwest China. This Mining the Collection episode provides a rare glimpse into a group of so-called Nestorian bronze crosses, works cast in the Ordos region (modern-day Inner Mongolia) during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and featuring hybrid Christian and Buddhist formal elements. Part of the collection of the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, many of these plaque-like ornaments are cruciform in shape—hence the group description as “crosses”–-while others have stylized animal and vegetal forms. Dr. Florian Knothe, Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery, will discuss the material and functions of these objects as well as the history of the Nestorian church in China and its legacy.

Register HERE.

For questions, please contact Nancy Wu, nancyyeewu@gmail.com

CFP: ICMA-Sponsored session at CAA Annual Conference 2022, due 16 September 2021

Call for Papers

ICMA-Sponsored Session
College Art Association Conference 2022 (in person)
Chicago, 16-19 February 2022

due 16 September 2021


Presenters in ICMA-sponsored sessions will be eligible for travel reimbursement via the ICMA-Kress Travel Grant (https://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant).

Legacy and Afterlife of the Middle Ages

How are the Middle Ages remembered? In recent years the Middle Ages have set the scene for a variety of popular TV series; contemporary identity is often connected to a medieval past; and medieval history has even been appropriated to justify the horrific actions of extremist groups. As scholars we know that popular views of the Middle Ages are often absurdly and dangerously misrepresented, but if a false vision of the Middle Ages is accepted as true on screen, in objects, or architecture, what effect does that have on the psyche of viewers today?

This session invites papers from diverse fields to interrogate how memory, legacy, and myths of the Middle Ages live on today, in tangible or intangible ways. Possible topics may include neo-Gothic revivals, the endurance of religious expression for faith communities today, as well as 19th-century and fantasy medievalisms from Tolkien to Game of Thrones. In light of the content thread recommended by CAA for 2021 –social justice— we specifically encourage submissions that consider race, gender equality, sexuality, including queer pre-modern identities, and justice for Indigenous communities in the Americas. For example, potential topics might examine the appropriation of medieval symbols in contemporary hate groups or how medieval women are portrayed on screen. At a time when popular culture has renewed attention on the Middle Ages, it is critical to reflect not just on medieval attitudes towards their own material culture and visual arts, but how our own perspectives are shaped by their real and imagined legacies.

Please submit abstracts directly to the chair by 16 September. More specific submission instructions can be found the CAA Annual Conference website here

Chair:
Hannah Maryan Thomson, UCLA – hannahmaryan@humnet.ucla.edu

Neo-Romanesque Royce Hall at UCLA built in 1929.

Neo-Romanesque Royce Hall at UCLA built in 1929.

ICMA-Kress Research and Publication Grants, due 31 August 2021

The Kress Foundation is again generously supporting five research and publication grants to be administered by the ICMA. This year, grants are $3,500 each (an increase over prior years) and we have expanded the eligibility for applicants to include scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD. 

The deadline for the 2021 grant cycle is 31 August 2021. Upload materials here.

ELIGIBILITY
The ICMA-Kress Research and Publication grants ($3,500) are now available to scholars who are ICMA members at any stage past the PhD.

With the field of medieval art history expanding in exciting ways, it is crucial that the ICMA continue to encourage innovative research that will bring new investigations to broad audiences. These grants are open to scholars at all phases of their careers. Priority will be given to proposals with a clear path toward publication.

If travel is a facet of your application, please include an itinerary and be specific about costs for all anticipated expenses (travel, lodging, per diem, and other details). If you aim to inspect extremely rare materials or sites with restricted access, please be as clear as possible about prior experience or contacts already made with custodians.

If your application is for funds that will support the production of a book, please include a copy of the contract from your publisher, the publisher’s request for a subvention, and/or specifics on costs for images and permissions.

Preference will be given to applicants who have not received an ICMA-Kress grant in the past.

Please submit these documents for your application:

1) A detailed overview of the project (no more than three pages, single spaced). Please also confirm that your ICMA membership is active and specify whether or not you have been awarded an ICMA-Kress grant previously.

2) A full cv.

3) A full budget.

4) Supporting materials – an itinerary (for applications involving travel), a contract and schedule of costs (if a press requires a subvention), or table of anticipated fees for image permissions (if applicable).

Please note: If you are applying for funds to support the production of a book, please do not upload the entire typescript or portions of the text.

The ICMA and the Kress Foundation are monitoring current travel restrictions. We will communicate on deferment until travel is permitted. If applying for travel funding, proceed with the application and budget as if travel is permitted. 

The application should be submitted electronically here. Recipients will be announced in October 2021.

Questions can be addressed to Ryan Frisinger, Executive Director, at awards@medievalart.org.

Failure to include all required materials adversely affects the review process.

ICMA News, Summer 2021 now available online

ICMA News               

Summer 2021
Melanie Hanan, Editor

Click here to read.
Also available on www.medievalart.org

 

INSIDE

ICMA Grants and Awards: Awards and Appointments

ICMA at Meetings and Conferences 

Special Features
Project Report: art.lab.cle, by Elizabeth S. Bolman

Resources: Working with Manuscripts in the Digital Age, by Katarzyna Anna Kapitan and N. Kıvılcım Yavuz  

Exhibition Review: Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint, by Teresa Lane

Events and Opportunities

The deadline for the next issue of ICMA News is 15 October 2021. Please send information to newsletter@medievalart.org 

If you would like your upcoming conference, CFP, or exhibition included in the newsletter please email the information to EventsExhibitions@medievalart.org.

 

Call for Papers: ICMA-sponsored sessions at ICMS, Kalamazoo; due 15 September

ICMS, Kalamazoo will be held virtually 9-14 May 2022. Presenters in ICMA-sponsored sessions will be eligible for conference fee reimbursement via the ICMA-Kress Travel Grant (https://www.medievalart.org/kress-travel-grant).

From prophet of Israel to miracle-working saint: the transformations of Elijah’s story in Jewish and Christian iconographic traditions, due 15 September 2021

Naples and Beyond: World-Wide Cultural Networks (Part I and Part II), due 15 September 2021

New Approaches to the Art and Architecture of Angevin and Aragonese Naples (1265-1458), due 15 September 2021 (Sponsored by the ICMA Student Committee)

Details below.

Call for Papers
From prophet of Israel to miracle-working saint: the transformations of Elijah’s story in Jewish and Christian iconographic traditions

Session sponsored by ICMA, The 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 9–14 May 2022 (online), Deadline: 15 September 2021

Elijah, Cozia Monastery, late 14th century.

Elijah, Cozia Monastery, late 14th century.

Organized by Barbara Crostini (Uppsala) – Andrei Dumitrescu (Bucharest)

The prophet Elijah is one of the most venerated figures in both Jewish and Christian traditions. Although the account of his deeds (1 and 2 Kings) offered ample material for exegesis, art historiography has paid little attention to the representation of Elijah’s story in late antique and medieval visual culture (ca. 3rd–15th centuries). This session aims to reassess the development of the prophet’s cult in different periods and religious contexts by gathering new evidence for the pictorial articulation of his narrative cycles.

Already in the 3rd-century CE, the mural decoration of the synagogue at Dura-Europos comprised a significant selection of episodes which affirmed the Tishbite’s capacity for performing miracles as a divine confirmation of his prophetic ministry. Later on, in medieval Byzantium, the supernatural powers of controlling the weather and raising the dead became a crucial element of Elijah’s profile as a thaumaturge saint. Moreover, his ascetical life was interpreted as a monastic archetype, usually regarded alongside the exemplum of John the Forerunner. In this new devotional context, the visual narrative of the prophet’s life was reshaped as a proper hagiographical cycle, a change simultaneously attested by 13th-century Balkan frescoes and Russian icons. Additionally, during the Middle Ages, certain scenes from Elijah’s story, such as the prophet being nourished by a raven or an angel, were equally used as autonomous elements of broader iconographic programs, acquiring multiple theological and liturgical meanings. A comparative analysis of these occurrences is still lacking.

Therefore, the main scope of this session is to stimulate research towards a more refined understanding of the circulation of biblical and hagiographical traditions correlated with the prophet Elijah. Bringing together a wide range of iconographic material and relating it to existing bibliography about homiletic texts and hymnography, this session will address a fundamental question about how images dynamically negotiated Jewish spiritual heritage in different areas of late antique and medieval Christendom. Proposed papers may include, but are not limited to:

• Local iconographic versions of Elijah’s narrative in East and West (3rd–15th centuries)

• The use of autonomous episodes from the prophet’s life in different iconographic contexts

• Jewish elaborations on Elijah’s legend

• Elijah as a model of monastic life in Christian texts and images

• The integration of Elijah’s image in the series of Old Testament figures (e. g. the selection of prophets in middle and late Byzantine domes)

• Elijah and the widow of Sarepta: a gender perspective

Please submit abstracts directly through the ICMS Confex site at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2022am/cfp.cgi. We will send out notifications of acceptance by the end of September. Please direct all questions or concerns to the panel organizers: Dr. Barbara Crostini (crostini.barbara@gmail.com) and Andrei Dumitrescu (andreidumitres@gmail.com).

Deadline: September 15, 2021

Call for Papers
Naples and Beyond: World-Wide Cultural Networks

Sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art at the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 9 – 14, 2022

Francesco Rosselli, Tavola Strozzi, 1472-1473, tempera on panel, 82 x 245 cm, Naples, Museo Nazionale di San Martino

Francesco Rosselli, Tavola Strozzi, 1472-1473, tempera on panel, 82 x 245 cm, Naples, Museo Nazionale di San Martino

The city and the kingdom of Naples in the late medieval period have attracted much exciting scholarly attention in the last two decades. No longer swayed by Vasari’s bitter commentary on Naples, recent research has been applying new methods and new digital technology to understand the city and its environs. This double session on Naples seeks to build on this recent scholarship by considering Naples as a world city and center of cultural production whose art, artists, and architecture were not only distinct but also influential beyond the boundaries of the kingdom of Naples to the wider Mediterranean, Europe, and other continents between c.1250 and c.1435.

Session 1:  Within Naples: The City and the Regno c. 1250-1435

The only monarchy in Italy, Naples had a unique position in contrast to the many city-states of northern Italy. A powerful fiefdom of the papacy with a firm military and political grip over the entire peninsula during the fourteenth century, how did that powerful position manifest itself in art, architecture, and material culture?  If Naples should be considered not on the periphery of mainstream Italian art but a center of it, then what aspects allow us to consider it as such?

Please submit proposals that consider, but are not limited to, the following questions:

●       Representations of kingship/queenship and themes of personal and dynastic glorification

●       Patronage of religious orders

●       Medieval topography of Naples, including digital mapping or reconstruction/ maps as palimpsests

●       Local saints and pilgrimage; nuns, religious leaders/preachers in Angevin Naples

●       Importation of artists (painters, architects, goldsmiths, sculptors, scribes and illuminators) – materials and materiality


Session 2: Beyond Naples: Angevin Naples and its Reach beyond the Regno c. 1250-1435

A port city, Naples was a complex site of artistic mobility and exchange during the medieval period. What impact did the art and artists of late medieval Naples have on the global stage? And equally, what impact did the wider connected world have on Naples?

Please submit proposals that consider, but are not limited to, the following questions:

●       The movement of art, other objects of material culture, and artistic materials between Naples and the wider Mediterranean and beyond

●       Trade, especially maritime trade, as a trigger of cultural and artistic innovation

●       Royal, diplomatic, cultural, commercial, and artistic relationships between Naples and other Italian city states, the wider Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, and Asia

  

Please submit abstracts no later than 15 September through the ICMS Confex site at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2022am/cfp.cgi. We will send out notifications in the latter half of September. Please direct all questions or concerns to janis.elliott@ttu.edu and dgallant@udel.edu.

Since the International Congress on Medieval Studies will be run virtually in 2022, the ICMA (via a Samuel H. Kress Foundation grant) will cover the conference fees of those participating in the ICMA-sponsored session(s).

 

The ICMA Student Committee is also organizing a session on Naples, New Approaches to the Art and Architecture of Angevin and Aragonese Naples (1265-1458).  To promote stronger networks between ICMA student and senior scholars, Janis Elliott and Denva Gallant will moderate the Student Committee session.

Call for Papers
New Approaches to the Art and Architecture of Angevin and Aragonese Naples (1265-1458)
Sponsored by the Student Committee of the International Center of Medieval Art
57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 9 – 14, 2022

Detail, “Castel Nuovo,” Berthold Werner, CC 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Detail, “Castel Nuovo,” Berthold Werner, CC 3.0.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

The city and kingdom of Naples occupied a central place in late-medieval Mediterranean life: it was a powerful kingdom with deep connections to the French throne; it controlled vast territories throughout Italy in service to the papacy; and its many ports welcomed goods arriving from the Levant, north Africa, and western Europe. Despite this importance during the medieval period the city has been, generally, overshadowed by other cities such as Rome, Florence, and Venice in academic discourse. Nevertheless, the city has been interrogated in recent decades by many prominent European and American art historians who have expanded our understanding of Neapolitan art patronage and devotional images during the trecento and quattrocento, including Francesco Aceto, Nicolas Bock, Caroline Bruzelius, Bianca de Divitiis, Stefano D’Ovidio, Janis Elliott, Cathleen Fleck, Adrian Hoch, Pierluigi Leone de Castris, Vinni Lucherini, Tanja Michalsky, Alessandra Perriccioli Saggese, Elisabetta Scirocco, Paola Vitolo, Cordelia Warr, and Sarah Wilkins, to name a few.

This panel invites submissions from students that will build on recent scholarship and examine the relationship between the art, artists, and architecture of late-medieval Naples and the wider connected world. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: the movement of material and visual culture between Naples, the wider Mediterranean, and beyond; the movement of people, including patrons, artists, and craftsmen, between Naples and the wider connected world; the impact of trade to or from Naples; diplomatic, political, commercial, artistic, and cultural exchanges and interactions and their effects within and beyond Naples; the role of women as patrons, rulers, nuns, and powerbrokers in Naples; dress and comportment; the textile arts; portolan atlases; trade between Naples and other cities, including, but not limited to, Florence, London, Paris, Rome, Tunis, or Jerusalem.

Please submit abstracts no later than 15 September through the ICMS Confex site at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2022am/cfp.cgi. The Student Committee will send out notifications in the latter half of September. Please direct all questions or concerns to gilbert.jones@gmail.com and elb7cn@virginia.edu .

A good abstract will state the topic and argument and will inform specialists in the field of what is new about the research. Generalities known to everyone, or research that a scholar intends to do but has not yet begun, are not appropriate. Please keep in mind that, if selected, your abstract will be used, as is, for the online program and conference app.

Since the International Congress on Medieval Studies will be run virtually in 2022, the ICMA (via a Samuel H. Kress Foundation grant) will cover the conference fees of those participating in the ICMA-sponsored session(s). Participants will be required to be members of the ICMA at the time of the conference (May 2022).

Janis Elliott and Denva Gallant are organizing two sessions on Naples sponsored by the ICMA, Naples and Beyond: World-Wide Cultural Networks. To promote stronger networks between ICMA student and senior scholars, they will also moderate the Student Committee session.




Queer Medieval Art: Past, Present, and Future; Monday 16 August 2021 at 12pm ET. Register today!

Queer Medieval Art: Past, Present, and Future

Online, Monday, August 16 at 9:00 am PST / 12:00 pm EST / 5:00 pm GMT

Pierre de Montreuil, Adam, mid-1200s. Paris, Musée national du Moyen Âge, Cl. 11657  (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Pierre de Montreuil, Adam, mid-1200s. Paris, Musée national du Moyen Âge, Cl. 11657  (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Human sexuality and gender are complex and personal topics. For over four decades, scholars of all aspects of the Middle Ages have advanced various approaches for locating queer and trans histories. Some have attempted to identify lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, two-spirit (LGBTQIA2+) people in the past, at times outing these individuals, while others have sought to disrupt binaries that present heterosexual couplings and cisgender identities as normative. In this ICMA online conversation, we will reflect on the state of the field and share strategies for incorporating queer and trans material in our classes, scholarship, and exhibitions on medieval art. Brief case studies by the following scholars will open the floor for a discussion of terms and methodologies: Roland Betancourt (University of California, Irvine), Leah DeVun (Rutgers University), Bryan C. Keene (Riverside City College), and Karl Whittington (Ohio State University).

This event is co-organized by the ICMA’s Programs & Lectures Committee and the IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Committee.

For questions, please contact: Bryan Keene, Bryan.Keene@rcc.edu  

Please register here



Register today for CURATING BECKET, an ICMA Membership Event - Thursday 29 July 2021

CURATING BECKET

An ICMA Membership Event

Thursday 29 July 2021
- 5:00-7:00pm BST 
- 12:00-2:00pm ET 
- 9:00-11:00am PT


Register here

Alabaster panel showing the murder of Thomas Becket, England, about 1425-50. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Alabaster panel showing the murder of Thomas Becket, England, about 1425-50. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

‘Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint’ is currently on view at the British Museum (May 20 – August 22, 2021). It is the first major exhibition to explore the remarkable life, death, and legacy of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and thorn in the side of Henry II. Discussion will focus on the process of curating the exhibition, new research on Becket’s Miracle Windows, and recently published work on the digital modelling of Becket’s various shrines in Canterbury Cathedral.

Panelists: Naomi Speakman, Lloyd de Beer, Rachel Koopmans, Leonie Seliger, and John Jenkins; with moderator Elizabeth Morrison.

For questions, contact icma@medievalart.org

Register here

Reminder: ICMA STAHL AND FORSYTH LECTURES: Call for nominations due 8 July 2021

ICMA STAHL AND FORSYTH LECTURES
Call for nominations
due 8 July 2021


 
INVITE A STAR TO YOUR CAMPUS (Virtually)! 

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for virtual programs under the Stahl and Forsyth Lecture Series to be held under the sponsorship of the organization in 2021-2022. Stahl Lectures are to be sponsored by colleges or universities in what might be termed the greater southwest, while Forsyth lectures, as a rule, take place in institutions located east of the Mississippi River, especially in what might be termed the greater Midwest. At this time, we have the opportunity to make the program available virtually to all ICMA members. Though we are also interested in proposals that include some in-person engagement between students and speakers if conditions and logistics allow.
 
Please suggest the name(s) of appropriate speakers and indicate your willingness to host the event at your institution. Please indicate if your college or university has the infrastructure for a Zoom (or other) webinar and the tech support to launch and troubleshoot a virtual event. Joint proposals—of two or more institutions—are welcome, as traditionally, lecturers are expected to speak at more than one venue. The hosts assume the responsibility for organizing the event, ideally working in conjunction with colleagues at other institutions; for publishing the details in advance on the ICMA website and ICMA News (the newsletter); and for reporting on the event after it is over. International exchange of scholarship is encouraged, though not required.
 
An honorarium will be covered by the ICMA. 
 
For Stahl Lecture, please submit your CV and the CV of the proposed speaker, as well as a brief proposal/preliminary itinerary by clicking here

For Forsyth Lecture, please submit your CV and CV of the proposed speaker, as well as a brief proposal/preliminary itinerary by clicking here.

Please direct any inquiries to the Chair of the ICMA Programs & Lectures Committee: Bryan C. Keene, Riverside City College; email: bryan.keene@rcc.edu. The deadline for the nominations is 8 July 2021 for lectures to be planned for the fall of 2021 or the spring of 2022.

Announcing the recipients of the inaugural ICMA Advocacy Seed Grant

We are pleased to announce the co-recipients of the inaugural ICMA Advocacy Seed Grant

Kivotion of Tismana Monastery, 1671, silver, National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest (source: MNAR)

Kivotion of Tismana Monastery, 1671, silver, National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest (source: MNAR)


Maria Alessia Rossi and Alice Isabella Sullivan
in support of their project Mapping Eastern Europe
https://mappingeasterneurope.princeton.edu
 

Mapping Eastern Europeis a new open-access interactive website intended to promote study, research, and teaching about the history, art, and culture of Eastern Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries. On the site, users can access historical overviews, art historical case studies, short notices about ongoing research projects, as well as reviews of recent books and exhibitions.

The ICMA Advocacy Seed Grantwill help grow this project by supporting the commissioning of new content from more than 10 early-career contingent scholars covering areas of modern Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Czechia, and Russia. Topics will range from iconographic representations of the Man of Sorrows and the Akathistos Hymn to votive murals, mosaics, female patrons, monastic churches, and icons, among others. Through the support of the ICMA,Mapping Eastern Europecontinues to challenge the ways in which the artistic production of Eastern Europe is defined and considered by making available contributions in English written by researchers and intended for both specialist and broader audiences, including students engaging with this material for the first time.

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2021

ICMA at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2021


Session 1301

Materials, Manufacture, Movement: Tracing Connections through Object Itineraries
Wednesday 7 July 2021, 16.30-18.00 BST

Therese Martin, “Glimpses of Gold: Material Evidence of Cross-Cultural Connections in Rock Crystal Chess Pieces and a Countess’s Seal (10th-11th c.),” Archivo Español de Arte (in press, 2021).

Therese Martin, “Glimpses of Gold: Material Evidence of Cross-Cultural Connections in Rock Crystal Chess Pieces and a Countess’s Seal (10th-11th c.),” Archivo Español de Arte (in press, 2021).


Organized by and Moderator:
Therese Martin, Instituto de Historia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid.

Two pairs of interrelated papers feature the rich work-in-progress by members of the project 'The Medieval Iberian Treasury in Context: Collections, Connections, and Representations on the Peninsula and Beyond' (PI Therese Martin). Our research interrogates how and why medieval artifacts moved across borders, whether religious, political, or geographical; such objects and textiles materialize connections that are too often missing from official written histories. Likewise, team members analyze the presence of artifacts and materials preserved far from their places of manufacture to understand the works' socio-historical itineraries. These papers depend on the material evidence of artifacts - textiles, ebony and ivory caskets, metalworks, and manuscripts - to understand the interconnections among diverse climates, cultures, and technologies. Our object-oriented approaches shed light on networks of trade, plunder, marriage, and diplomacy, through which prized possessions arrived at destinations including Egypt, Iberia, Germanic lands, and the easterly reaches of Europe.

Linen, Wool, and Silk: Climate Conditions and Textile Production from Egypt to Iberia, Ana Cabrera-Lafuente, Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España, Madrid

Exquisite yet Handy: On Ivory / Ebony Caskets and the Egypt / Iberia Debate, Silvia Armando, Department of Art History & Studio Art, John Cabot University, Roma

Treasuries as Windows to the Medieval World: San Isidoro de León and St Blaise at Braunschweig, Jitske Jasperse, Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Women's Influence, Modern Perceptions, and the Transmission of 'Culture' in Medieval Central and Eastern Europe, Christian Raffensperger, Department of History, Wittenberg University, Ohio

The Guelph Treasure, Historic Significance and Legal Implications, 28 June 2021 at 12pm ET - sign up today!

The Guelph Treasure, Historic Significance and Legal Implications
A special online event presented by Friends of the ICMA

June 28, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET
Sign up HERE

Arm reliquaries of St. Caesarius, St. Innocentius and St. Theodore from the Guelph Treasure. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Fabian Fröhlich

Arm reliquaries of St. Caesarius, St. Innocentius and St. Theodore from the Guelph Treasure. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum / Fabian Fröhlich


Please join the Friends of the ICMA for the second in a series of special online events on Monday, June 28 at 12:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. PT; 5:00 p.m. BST; and 6:00 p.m. WET) with speakers Holger A. Klein, Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor of Medieval Art History, Columbia University, and Leila A. Amineddoleh, Founder, Amineddoleh & Associates LLC. Professor Klein will discuss the historic importance of the Guelph Treasure, a collection of liturgical objects now housed in Germany, Sweden, and U.S. museums. Ms. Amineddoleh will outline the legal cases related to the collection that have been argued in Europe and the U.S., including the U.S. Supreme Court. The moderator for the event will be George Spera, retired counsel at Shearman & Sterling, and former legal advisor to the ICMA.

Please feel free to notify colleagues and friends who may not be ICMA members about this event.

Sign up HERE. All are welcome!

For questions, please contact Doralynn Pines, Chair of the Friends of the ICMA, doralynn.pines@gmail.com.

Gesta author Sharon Gerstel in Conversation with Gesta Coeditor Susan Boynton on 5 June 2021


Professors Susan Boynton and Sharon Gerstel in conversation about chant and acoustics in the Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki

gerstel.jpg

The Axion Estin Foundation announces a special edition of a radio program to be broadcast from 12:30 pm to 1 pm EST on Saturday, June 5th, 2021 through WNYE 91.5 Cosmos FM. The broadcast will feature Professor Sharon E. J. Gerstel discussing her research on music, monumental painting, and space in the Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki. Gerstel is the lead author of the article “Holy, Holy, Holy: Hearing the Voices of Angels,” which appeared in April in Gesta, the journal of the International Center of Medieval Art (Volume 60, Number 1, Spring 2021) published by the University of Chicago Press. Professor Susan Boynton (Columbia University), coeditor of Gesta, will host the program on behalf of the Advisory Board of the Foundation. Professor Gerstel is the Director of the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture, in Los Angeles, CA. She is Professor of Byzantine Art & Archaeology and the George P. Kolovos Family Centennial Term Chair in Hellenic Studies. Recently she was awarded honorary citizenship by Greece and was named a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the Hellenic Republic.

Click HERE to read the article.

For more information contact the Axion Estin Foundation at axionestinorg@gmail.com

Call for Proposals, International Congress on Medieval Studies 2022; due 23 May 2021

ICMA at International Congress on Medieval Studies 

Online, 9-14 May 2022
Call for ICMA Sponsored Session Proposals
due 23 May 2021

The International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) seeks proposals for sessions to be held under the organization’s sponsorship in 2022 at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo. Session organizers and speakers must be ICMA members. Proposals must include a session abstract and a CV of the organizer(s), all in one single Doc or PDF with the organizer’s name in the title.


A list of speakers is not required at this time. Organizers will have the opportunity to send out a call for papers after the session selected by ICMA has been approved by the Congress Committee in July.


Please direct all session proposals and inquiries by 23 May 2021 to the Chair of the Programs Committee: Bryan C. Keene, Riverside City College.


Upload session proposals HERE.


For inquiries, Bryan.Keene@rcc.edu

ICMA at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo 2021

ICMA at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo 2021

Session 13
Art Historical Approaches to Medieval Environments
Monday, May 10, 9:00 a.m. EDT (live recorded)

Sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art Student Committee

Organized by
Dustin Aaron, Institute of Fine Arts, New York Univ.

Presider: Dustin Aaron

A Saint, the Sun, and a Cloud: Sacred Meteorology in Santa Maria Novella Giosuè Fabiano, Courtauld Institute of Art

Out of the Woods: The Ecologies and Natural Materials of the Historiated Doors of Auvergne Katherine Werwie, Yale Univ.

The Trees of the Cross Gregory C. Bryda, Barnard College

Session 163
The Global North: Medieval Scandinavia on the Borders of Europe
Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m. EDT


Organized by
Laura Tillery, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology
Ingrid Lunnan Nødseth, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology

Presider: Laura Tillery and Ingrid Lunnan Nødseth

Countering Misrepresentations by Showcasing the Multicultural Vikings Nancy L. Wicker, Univ. of Mississippi

Romanesque Crossroads: Ornamental Diversity in the Golden Altar from Lisbjerg, Denmark Kristin B. Aavitsland, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

The Moor and the Arab in the Merchant’s Chapel, Malmoe Lena Liepe, Linnaeus Univ.

Session 184
Medieval Exhibitions in the Era of Global Art History I
Wednesday, May 12, 11:00 a.m. EDT


Organized by
Gerhard Lutz, Cleveland Museum of Art
Lloyd de Beer, British Museum

Presider: Gerhard Lutz

Is Exhibiting a Cross-Cultural Charlemagne Possible? Ex oriente (Aachen, 2003) William J. Diebold, Reed College

The exhibition “The Constance Council 1414–1418. World Event of the Middle Ages” in 2014: Presenting Medieval Culture as a Challenge in a Secular World Karin Ehlers, Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg

Lessons from the Caravan: Representing “Medieval” Africa Sarah M. Guérin, Univ. of Pennsylvania

The Art of Africa in Medieval Exhibitions: Confronting Issues of Terms, Associations, and US-Based Discourses of Race Andrea Myers Achi, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Session 233
Considering Race in the Classroom: Complicating the Narratives of Medieval Art History (A Workshop)
Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 p.m. EDT


Sponsored by International Center of Medieval Art and Material Collective

Organized by
Risham Majeed, Ithaca College

Presider: Bryan C. Keene, Riverside City College


A workshop led by Risham Majeed.

Visit www.medievalart.org/considering-race for pre-workshop readings and images.
Password: sheba (all lowercase)

Session 263
Medieval Exhibitions in the Era of Global Art History II
Thursday, May 13, 11:00 a.m. EDT

Organized by
Gerhard Lutz, Cleveland Museum of Art
Lloyd de Beer, British Museum

Presider: Lloyd de Beer

Interreligious Dialogue: The New Permanent Medieval Galleries: Principal Aspects of “Christianity” as One of the Major World Religions at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany Christine Kitzlinger, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg

The World beyond the Pages of Books: New Pathways for Exhibitions toward a Global Middle Ages in Los Angeles Bryan C. Keene, Riverside City College

Curating Monsters: Grappling with Medieval and Modern Otherness in the Gallery Asa Simon Mittman, California State Univ.–Chico; Sherry C. M. Lindquist, Western Illinois Univ.

Make It New: Student Curators Reframing the Medieval and Early Modern Alexa K. Sand, Utah State Univ

ICMA ANNUAL BOOK PRIZE, SUBMISSIONS DUE 31 MAY 2021

ICMA ANNUAL BOOK PRIZE 

AUTHORS: NOTIFY YOUR PUBLISHER TO SUBMIT YOUR BOOK 
DUE 31 MAY 2021

 

Single or dual-authored books on any topic in medieval art printed in 2020 are eligible. No special issues of journals or anthologies or exhibition catalogues can be considered. The competition is international and open to all ICMA members. Languages of publication: English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

Not a member yet? Click here to create your account and join!

Prize: US $1,000 to a single author, or US $500 each to two co-authors. Recipients will be notified in early 2022.

For more information and to submit, visit https://www.medievalart.org/book-prize.

Send questions to icma@medievalart.org.

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY

Titles not previously submitted for the 2020 prize (printed in 2019), that were delayed due to publishing or shipment delays related to the ongoing pandemic, are eligible for submission.

British Museum Online Lecture: Curators’ Introduction – Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint, 7th May 2021, 12:30 - 1:30 Eastern

To mark last year’s 850th anniversary of his brutal murder, the exhibition explored Becket’s remarkable life, death and legacy. It presents his journey from a merchant’s son to Archbishop of Canterbury, and the attempts to obliterate his cult under the Tudor dynasty.

Introduced and chaired by the Director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, the exhibition curators, Lloyd de Beer and Naomi Speakman, discuss the themes, context and highlight objects of this remarkable show.

To book this online event:

Book now to secure your place. We’re hosting the event on Zoom – a free video conferencing system that requires users to register in advance. If you do not already use Zoom, you can sign up using this registration link.

If the event is fully booked, or you do not wish to use Zoom, you can also watch the event streamed live – as well as other events in the series – on the Museum’s live events YouTube channel.

This event includes live captioning delivered by Stagetext and delivered by MyClearText.

Credit: Reliquary pendant showing Becket as archbishop. England, 15th
century. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Info: This pendant may once have contained Becket’s relics. The reverse shows an
image of St John the Baptist.

MINING THE COLLECTION: TWO OPENWORK IVORY CASKETS FROM THE ISLAMIC MEDITERRANEAN WITH CURATOR MARIAM ROSSER-OWEN THURSDAY, MAY 6, AT 11:00 AM EASTERN

Please join us Thursday, May 6, at 11:00 AM Eastern, RSVP here.

Cylindrical box, Egypt or Spain, middle of the 14th century. Ivory carved with an openwork design and the inscription inlaid with bitumen. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 4139-1856.

Cylindrical box, Egypt or Spain, middle of the 14th century. Ivory carved with an openwork design and the inscription inlaid with bitumen. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 4139-1856.

Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen, Curator responsible for the art of the Arab World at the Victoria and Albert Museum, will offer an in-depth look at two fourteenth-century ivory objects in the museum’s Islamic art collection. Both cylindrical caskets, carved in openwork with cursive Arabic inscriptions, form part of a group that has been attributed to both Mamluk Egypt and Nasrid Spain. Part handling session, part presentation, Mariam will show us the ivories and outline the debate around their attribution.

We invite you to join us for a brief presentation followed by an informal discussion on Thursday, May 6, at 11:00 am Eastern. Please RSVP here.

Gesta Spring 2021 (Volume 60, Number 1) now available!

Gesta.jpeg

The latest issue of Gesta Spring 2021 (Volume 60, Number 1) is now available online!

The King in the Manuscript: The Presentation Inscription of the Vienna Latin Bible moralisée
Katherine H. Tachau

Holy, Holy, Holy: Hearing the Voices of Angels
Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Chris Kyriakakis, Spyridon Antonopoulos, Konstantinos T. Raptis, and James Donahue

(Re)Birth of a Seal: Power and Pretense at San Nicola, Bari, ca. 1300
Jill Caskey

Space, Image, Light: Toward an Understanding of Moldavian Architecture in the Fifteenth Century
Alice Isabella Sullivan, Gabriel-Dinu Herea, and Vladimir Ivanovici

Into the Desert: Demons, Spiritual Focus, and the Eremitic Ideal in Morgan MS M.626
Denva Gallant

Remember, ICMA membership provides exclusive online access to the complete run of Gesta in full text, PDF, and e-Book editions – at no additional charge.

To access your members-only journal subscription, log in to the ICMA site here with your username and password.  If you have any questions, please email icma@medievalart.org.

For ICMA members receiving a print copy along with the online version,  there may be a delay in shipping the journal to you. Thank you for your patience.